Sep 11, 2012

I live in California, and as such President Obama can pretty much do no wrong here. There are so many people that are blinded by a guy who would better belong in Hollywood than in government. How many of you were outraged by the so-called cyber security bills that were being pushed through congress a few months ago? Bills like CISPA, and SOPA. Millions of you were outraged at the thought of the government censoring our beloved Internet, or public companies selling us out to our "big brother" government. Tell me then why you will still support a president that would sign an executive order to bypass CISPA, a bill that has been stalled in congress because it is widely unpopular and infringes on our constitutional rights?

The executive order would establish a voluntary cyberthreat exchange for companies to share information with the government and it would put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of conducting privacy assessments of the information that the government collects. Unlike the stalled cybersecurity bills in Congress that would have provided broad legal immunity for companies that violate privacy laws in the process of sharing their users’ information with the government, the executive order does not directly grant such immunity because the Administration is not confident that the legal authority currently exists for them to do so. Instead, the executive order calls for a report to examine possibilities for instituting immunity from privacy laws as a way to encourage companies to share more data. This inclusion of this report is significant because it suggests that the Administration may believe there is a potential work-around for the privacy laws that they previously insisted would take an act of Congress to be bypassed, as noted by former Homeland Security agent Stewart Baker.

90 days after the EO is signed by President Barack Obama, the cybersecurity council — led by the Homeland Security Department secretary — must develop a report to determine which agencies should regulate which parts of the critical infrastructure. The creation of the council is in section 2 of the draft EO.Under earlier cyber bills, DHS would take the lead in regulation, and that concerned some lawmakers and experts. It was a major sticking point in moving forward with a vote on a comprehensive bill.

The President is clearly overstepping his bounds on this one. Although it isn't surprising because he has enacted more executive orders to further his agenda since any President since WWII. This kind of stuff needs to stop. America can't have freedom if the government is constantly monitoring everything you do. If this gets signed, and you still vote for Obama you are a hypocrite!

Politics aside, if the Government makes these types of laws giving private companies authority to spy on Americans, you need to protect yourself with encryption. Watch my Tech Chop episode on how to protect yourself with different types of encryption here: (Tech Chop Ep14).